TiVo beats analysts' predictions

TiVo Inc. has defied the predictions of analysts by making a quarterly loss of $6.4 million. Improved sales of older DVR hardware and reduced expenses influenced the loss, which is about 6 cents per share, much lower than the 20 cents per share (about $19.5 million) loss made in the fourth quarter of the previous year. TiVo has never held a profitable quarter but Chief Executive Tom Rogers thinks its day is coming soon.

Analysts had previously forecast on average a loss of 11 cents per share for the fourth quarter. However, with the better results, Rogers assured investors in a phone conference on Wednesday that the company was narrowing the gap towards profitability as it keeps adding cable and satellite providers to its list of partners.

Cox Communications announced on Wednesday that it will be running a trial in New England markets with a set-top-box that uses TiVo technology, the same technology rolled out in the fourth quarter by Comcast. Rogers also said that sales for stand-alone DVRs would rise responding to demand for content downloaded from the Internet.

He also predicted increased revenues from the company's StopWatch service, which allows advertisers to pick what commercials viewers see. "It will be critical for advertisers to become experts in consumption patterns in DVR homes, and we are the only player out there providing them with both new forms of inventory as well as measurement and accountability tools that enable them to better assess how to reach the television audience increasingly looking to avoid commercials," Rogers said.

For the year, TiVo lost $31.4 million, or 32 cents per share, which is 34% less than in fiscal 2007. "This is TiVo's best annual performance in its history," Rogers told investors.